Facebook:
Walking between your online presence and your real life personality is not something that you ever had to think about before. In light of recent times it is something that you need to give some serious thought about in the professional landscape.
“Just because popular social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, encourage members to use their actual identities doesn't mean people are presenting themselves online the way they do in real life.”Mark Milian- Technology Editor, Venture Capital- Bloomberg
In this digital age we are all looking for ways in which to build our presence and expand our reach. One of the ways in which we do so is to find ways to build social media presence. In doing so, we always want to present our best selves and image to the people around us. With this comes pictures and posts of ourselves, the things that we care for, products and services that we may be selling. Whatever the case may be.
Online identity vs real life identity
Let’s face it, our anonymity in the digital and social media age is fast fading. Nowadays it’s become completely normal for us to bump into the people we follow on social media platforms in the supermarket. Naturally with that comes the anticipation that our online hero will be just as friendly/ warm and dynamic as we know them to be on our social pages.
Perhaps you are the professional influencer with an audience… Or maybe you are the one who is encountering a person that you follow out there.
Whichever way you look at it, there are unmistakable moments in which you realise that the person you know of online and the person you meet in the supermarket are drastically out of sync with reality.
We are living life in the digital age and it is important to note that for the greater part, we are living in two kinds of realities. Besides the public expectation of who we are and how we represent ourselves, we also have a professional outlook to maintain. With this comes a number of implications.
Are you really who you portray online?
Let’s face it, everybody has a bad day. Nobody is expecting you to be 100 percent okay, upbeat and chirpy all the time. Having said that though, there has to be a marriage and synching up with who you are online and how you present yourself in reality.
For example:
You wouldn’t expect a well-reputed life coach to be raging at the sales staff at a store.
Or
A professional stylist to step out in public with scuffed shoes, ragged nails and stained clothing.
Surely this has got you thinking...
As netizens there definitely is a certain sense of pressure to act and behave in a certain way. But where is the line between what we present as real and authentic, vs caving in to the public expectation?
Exactly where is the sweet spot, in that? Is the personality that you curate online driving your real life behaviour? Or is your authentic self, driving your social media and online presence?
While these may be very thought-provoking and intense questions, with no real hard and fast answers, there are some thoughts that can guide your behaviour.
Guidelines for posting online to social media
- Are you comfortable with what you’ve posted online?
- Will you still be comfortable with what you’ve posted on social media two days from now? What about two years from now?
- Think, think and think again… Always consider your emotional state before you post something online.
Be Authentic. Be true to who you are and what you do
In this era of brand building and online exposure, you will have to do some careful introspection about the intention behind why you’re doing what you’re doing. It’s quite easy to begin posting up content for money and to market your products. But why do you want to say what you’re saying?
Consider how you want to position yourself online.
- What is your message?
- Why are you saying what you’re saying?
If you really find yourself grappling with the notion of how to bridge the gap between your public and professional persona, it helps to get some training through a social media course. It will definitely provide you with some basic knowledge and guidelines on how to feel more confident and bridge the gap between your public and professional personas.
